Seventeen-year-old Yu Seung-eun won silver in the women's big air at the FIS Snowboard World Cup in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, marking her first career World Cup medal. Japan's Miyabi Onitsuka took gold with 174.00 points, edging out Yu's 173.25. This success signals bright prospects for South Korea ahead of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.
Yu Seung-eun, 17, captured silver with 173.25 points in the women's big air final at the International Ski Federation (FIS) Snowboard World Cup in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, on Saturday local time. She had placed second in qualifying with 89.75 points and sustained her momentum to reach the podium. Japan's Miyabi Onitsuka won gold with 174.00 points, while Australia's Ally Hickman took bronze at 162.25.
Big air, which debuted as an Olympic event at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games in South Korea, involves snowboarders launching from a ramp for a single massive jump to execute flips and spins. Judges evaluate based on difficulty, execution, jump height and distance, and landing. Yu became the first South Korean to win a World Cup medal in big air.
This marks the second World Cup medal for a South Korean snowboarder in the past three days, following 17-year-old Choi Gaon's victory in the women's halfpipe in China on Friday. The duo's recent performances augur well for South Korea's medal aspirations at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in February 2026. To date, South Korea has secured just one Olympic snowboard medal: silver by Lee Sang-ho in the men's parallel giant slalom at PyeongChang 2018.
